The long range purpose of this project is to understand the regulation of cellular proliferation and differentiation in craniofacial tissues by: (1) defining the factors involved in the in vitro differentiation of cranial neural crest cells; (2) developing procedures to culture the rodent embryo during the time of primary palatal development; (3) determining the biochemical events that regulate palatal epithelial cell adhesion and death; (4) defining the molecular basis for sensitivity to glucocorticoid-induced cleft palate.